New Delhi: Shares of Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) rose as much as 6 percent on the BSE in the early trade on Friday as the government's 12.5 percent stake sale of the PSU firm commenced on the bourses.

The floor or the minimum offer price for RCF's share sale has been set at Rs 45 apiece, which is a 2.6 percent premium to Thursday's close of Rs 43.85.

On the BSE, RCF scrip hit a high of Rs 46.40, up 5.81 percent over previous close, soon after the start of market hours. It continued to trade in the range of Rs 46.40-45.55 in the early hours, higher than the base price.

Analysts said the floor price of Rs 45, helped pull up the scrip which had witnessed some decline since Wednesday, when the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) decided on the floor price of the stake auction.

At the floor price of Rs 45, RCF stake sale could garner over Rs 310 crore to the exchequer.

The government proposes to sell 6.89 crore shares or 12.5 percent stake in the fertiliser and industrial products manufacturer through offer for sale (OFS) route.

Shares of RCF were quoting at Rs 45.65, up 4.10 percent on the BSE.

The Government holds 92.50 percent stake in RCF. After stake sale, its holding will come down to 80 percent.

The RCF stake sale would help the government inch closer to the disinvestment target for the current fiscal. As per the revised estimates, the government is likely to raise Rs 24,000 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal, lower than the budgeted Rs 30,000 crore.

So far this fiscal the government has raised over Rs 21,500 crore through stake sale in PSUs like Oil India, NTPC, NMDC and HCL.

In the remaining weeks of the fiscal ending March 31, the Finance Ministry plans to sell stake in three more companies -- MMTC, SAIL and NALCO.